Chapel of the Cross Children & Family Ministry

Today marks the first day of Lent. The Rev. Noah Van Niel leads our service. He will remember the time in 2020 when he turned burned palm leaves into ashes so prepare yourself for children sitting close together and coughing and acting like kids in a pre-pandemic world. You can download and print a bulletin if you want to follow along.

Inspired by the books of Laura Numeroff, we wondered what would happen If You Give a Priest a Pancake. Today is Shrove Tuesday (or Mardi Gras), a day many people eat pancakes to use up the butter and fats in the larder before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. We’re having a pancake party! We’re letting the good time roll! We’re shouting “Alleluia” before we put that word away for forty days. What do you think the clergy at the Chapel of the Cross will do today?

Sing them all! Lent starts on Wednesday and we’ll put our Alleluias (and Hallelujahs) away then. In the meantime, sing them. Shout them. Draw them. Decorate them.

The Fiore family tells the story of the Transfiguration today, this last Sunday before Lent. We’ll be celebrating Shrove Tuesday (February 16) by imagining what would happen If You Give a Priest a Pancake. On Ash Wednesday (February 17), the Rev. Noah Van Niel will lead a Children’s Service. All of that happens right here at cotcchildandfam.org. Join us.

What goes around comes around. Kindness turns into kindness.

The circle of the church year keeps turning. A year ago, we were looking forward to Shrove Tuesday pancakes and here we are, using up the butter and oil again. (If you’re saving some fats in the larder, no apologies. We’re all looking at our pantries in new and preparatory ways.) But where has Sally the Dog been the past year (asks Boykin). Sally has made very few appearances because she doesn’t like the guitar. Or the piano. Or the drums.

What does it mean to create a circle? How do you make it strong?

Does it feel like you’re running in circles? Like you’re doing the same thing day after day? You are growing even as you’re running. You are changing even when the days seem the same. Where do you see transformation?

We celebrated Candlemas without mentioning Snowdrops or Candlemas Bells or Edelweiss – the flowers that bloom in the spring snow, offering hope of warmer days to come.

Hurray! Aww. Eek! Rats. Hurray! and Wow! How are you feeling today?